THE FIRST PRECEPT: REVERENCE FOR LIFE

"Aware of the suffering caused by the destruction of life, I undertake
to cultivate compassion and learn ways to protect the lives of
people, animals, plants, and minerals. I am determined not to
kill, not to let others kill, and not to condone any act of
killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way of life."

Life is precious. It is everywhere, inside us and all around us; it
has so many forms.

The First Precept is born from the awareness that lives everywhere are
being destroyed. We see the suffering caused by the destruction of
life, and we undertake to cultivate compassion and use it as a source of
energy for the protection of people, animals, plants, and minerals.
The First Precept is a precept of compassion, karuna -- the
ability to remove suffering and transform it. When we see suffering,
compassion is born in us.

It is important for us to stay in touch with the suffering of the
world. We need to nourish that awareness through many means -- sounds,
images, direct contact, visits, and so on -- in order to keep
compassion alive in us. But we must be careful not to take in too
much. Any remedy must be taken in the proper dosage. We need to stay
in touch with suffering only to the extent that we will not forget, so
that compassion will flow within us and be a source of energy for our
actions. If we use anger at injustice as the source for our energy, we
may do something harmful, something that we will later regret.
According to Buddhism, compassion is the only source of energy that is
useful and safe. With compassion, your energy is born from insight; it
is not blind energy.

We humans are made entirely of non-human elements, such as plants,
minerals, earth, clouds, and sunshine. For our practice to be deep and
true, we must include the ecosystem. If the environment is destroyed,
humans will be destroyed, too. Protecting human life is not possible
without also protecting the lives of animals, plants, and minerals.
The Diamond Sutra teaches us that it is impossible to distinguish
between sentient and non-sentient beings. This is one of many ancient
Buddhist texts that teach deep ecology. Every Buddhist practitioner
should be a protector of the environment. Minerals have their own
lives, too. In Buddhist monasteries, we chant, "Both sentient and non-
sentient beings will realize full enlightenment." The First Precept is
the practice of protecting all lives, including the lives of minerals.

"I am determined not to kill, not to let others kill, and not to
condone any act of killing in the world, in my thinking, and in my way
of life." We cannot support any act of killing; no killing can be
justified. But not to kill is not enough. We must also learn ways to
prevent others from killing. We cannot say, "I am not responsible.
They did it. My hands are clean." If you were in Germany during the
time of the Nazis, you could not say, "They did it. I did not." If,
during the Gulf War, you did not say or do anything to try to stop the
killing, you were not practicing this precept. Even if what you said
or did failed to stop the war, what is important is that you tried,
using your insight and compassion.

It is not just by not killing with your body that you observe the
First Precept. If in your thinking you allow the killing to go on, you
also break this precept. We must be determined not to condone killing,
even in our minds. According to the Buddha, the mind is the base of
all actions. It is most dangerous to kill in the mind. When you
believe, for example, that yours is the only way for humankind and
that everyone who follows another way is your enemy, millions of
people could be killed because of that idea.

Thinking is at the base of everything. It is important for us to put
an eye of awareness into each of our thoughts. Without a correct
understanding of a situation or a person, our thoughts can be
misleading and create confusion, despair, anger, or hatred. Our most
important task is to develop correct insight. If we see deeply into
the nature of interbeing, that all things "inter-are," we will stop
blaming, arguing, and killing, and we will become friends with
everyone. To practice nonviolence, we must first of all learn ways to
deal peacefully with ourselves. If we create true harmony within
ourselves, we will know how to deal with family, friends, and
associates.

When we protest against a war, for example, we may assume that we are
a peaceful person, a representative of peace, but this might not be
true. If we look deeply, we will observe that the roots of war are in
the unmindful ways we have been living. We have not sown enough seeds
of peace and understanding in ourselves and others, therefore we are
co-responsible: "Because I have been like this, they are like that." A
more holistic approach is the way of "interbeing": "This is like this,
because that is like that." This is the way of understanding and love.
With this insight, we can see clearly and help our government see
clearly. Then we can go to a demonstration and say, "This war is
unjust, destructive, and not worthy of our great nation." This is far
more effective than angrily condemning others. Anger always
accelerates the damage.

All of us, even pacifists, have pain inside. We feel angry and
frustrated, and we need to find someone willing to listen to us who is
capable of understanding our suffering. In Buddhist iconography, there
is a bodhisattva named Avalokitesvara who has one thousand arms and
one thousand hands, and has an eye in the palm of each hand. One
thousand hands represent action, and the eye in each hand represents
understanding. When you understand a situation or a person, any action
you do will help and will not cause more suffering. When you have an
eye in your hand, you will know how to practice true nonviolence.

To practice nonviolence, first of all we have to practice it within
ourselves. In each of us, there is a certain amount of violence and a
certain amount of nonviolence. Depending on our state of being, our
response to things will be more or less nonviolent. Even if we take
pride in being vegetarian, for example, we have to acknowledge that
the water in which we boil our vegetables contains many tiny
microorganisms. We cannot be completely nonviolent, but by being
vegetarian, we are going in the direction of nonviolence. If we want
to head north, we can use the North Star to guide us, but it is
impossible to arrive at the North Star. Our effort is only to proceed
in that direction.

Anyone can practice some nonviolence, even army generals. They may,
for example, conduct their operations in ways that avoid killing
innocent people. To help soldiers move in the nonviolent direction, we
have to be in touch with them. If we divide reality into two camps --
the violent and the nonviolent -- and stand in one camp while
attacking the other, the world will never have peace. We will always
blame and condemn those we feel are responsible for wars and social
injustice, without recognizing the degree of violence in ourselves. We
must work on ourselves and also work with those we condemn if we want
to have a real impact.

It never helps to draw a line and dismiss some people as enemies, even
those who act violently. We have to approach them with love in our
hearts and do our best to help them move in a direction of
nonviolence. If we work for peace out of anger, we will never succeed.
Peace is not an end. It can never come about through non-peaceful
means.

Most important is to become nonviolence, so that when a situation
presents itself, we will not create more suffering. To practice
nonviolence, we need gentleness, loving kindness, compassion, joy, and
equanimity directed to our bodies, our feelings, and other people.
With mindfulness -- the practice of peace -- we can begin by working
to transform the wars in ourselves. There are techniques for doing
this. Conscious breathing is one. Every time we feel upset, we can
stop what we are doing, refrain from saying anything, and breathe in
and out several times, aware of each in-breath and each out-breath. If
we are still upset, we can go for walking meditation, mindful of each
slow step and each breath we take. By cultivating peace within, we
bring about peace in society. It depends on us. To practice peace in
ourselves is to minimize the numbers of wars between this and that
feeling, or this and that perception, and we can then have real peace
with others as well, including the members of our own family.

I am often asked, "What if you are practicing nonviolence and someone
breaks into your house and tries to kidnap your daughter or kill your
husband? What should you do? Should you still act in a nonviolent
way?" The answer depends on your state of being. If you are prepared,
you may react calmly and intelligently, in the most nonviolent way
possible. But to be ready to react with intelligence and nonviolence,
you have to train yourself in advance. It may take ten years, or
longer. If you wait until the time of crisis to ask the question, it
will be too late. A this-or-that kind of answer would be superficial.
At that crucial moment, even if you know that nonviolence is better
than violence, if your understanding is only intellectual and not in
your whole being, you will not act nonviolently. The fear and anger in
you will prevent you from acting in the most nonviolent way.

We have to look deeply every day to practice this precept well. Every
time we buy or consume something, we may be condoning some form of
killing.

While practicing the protection of humans, animals, plants, and
minerals, we know that we are protecting ourselves. We feel in
permanent and loving touch with all species on Earth. We are protected
by the mindfulness and the loving kindness of the Buddha and many
generations of Sanghas who also practice this precept. This energy of
loving kindness brings us the feeling of safety, health, and joy, and
this becomes real the moment we make the decision to receive and
practice the First Precept.

Feeling compassion is not enough. We have to learn to express it. That
is why love must go together with understanding. Understanding and
insight show us how to act.

Our real enemy is forgetfulness. If we nourish mindfulness every day
and water the seeds of peace in ourselves and those around us, we
become alive, and we can help ourselves and others realize peace and
compassion.

Life is so precious, yet in our daily lives we are usually carried
away by our forgetfulness, anger, and worries, lost in the past,
unable to touch life in the present moment. When we are truly alive,
everything we do or touch is a miracle. To practice mindfulness is to
return to life in the present moment. The practice of the First
Precept is a celebration of reverence for life. When we appreciate and
honor the beauty of life, we will do everything in our power to
protect all life.

THICH NHAT HANH is a Zen Buddhist monk, peace activist, scholar, and
poet. He is the founder of the Van Hanh Buddhist University in
Saigon, has taught at Columbia University and the Sorbonne, and now
lives in southern France, where he gardens, works to help those in
need, and travels internationally teaching ``the art of mindful
living.'' Martin Luther King, Jr., nominated him for the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1967, saying, ``I do not personally know of anyone more
worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize than this gentle monk from Vietnam.''

Reproduced from For a Future to Be Possible: Commentaries on the Five
Wonderful Precepts (1993) by Thich Nhat Hanh. Copyright 1993.
Reprinted with permission of Parallax Press, PO Box
7355, Berkeley, CA 94707.